Big Noisemaker
by Dumbothepatronus
Summary: Charlie knows in his heart he is destined for bigger things, but sitting in a classroom to get the education he needs to achieve those things is pure torture for this adrenaline junkie. When Tonks catches wind of a potential adventure, his ears perk up-he'd do just about anything to bring a little bit of excitement into his life. One-shot. Platonic Tonks/Charlie.


Prompt: Don't Stop Me Now—Queen

Among others, I've used the lyric "Don't stop me now" in my story

Optional Prompts:

(song) We Will Rock You

(colour) royal purple

(word) drugs

* * *

"And on page 1,457, you will see that in the year 712, the Head Goblin of…"

Charlie scraped the toe of his hand-me-down boot against the stone floor under his desk. He tried to force himself to listen to the droning voice of the ancient ghost who was somehow allowed to still teach the most boring subject on the planet, but the words floated in the air around him, refusing to be arranged into comprehension no matter how hard he crammed his mind around them.

It was just too boring to be believed.

And yet, if he was going to live up to the impossible standard his older brother Bill had set, he needed to figure it out. He was going to take on the world someday, somehow; he just needed to trudge through a dozen or so N.E.W.T.s first.

Perhaps there was some Potion of Focusing he could brew. Maybe if he ingested the right combination of magical ingredients, or some of those Muggle drugs that helped with focusing that his Dad kept talking about last summer, it would shift the gray that surrounded him—not just in _History and Monologues_, but through the entirety of the sixth-year curriculum—into the vibrant royal blues and purples that lit up his mind back in first year when everything was fresh and new.

As if on cue, a flash of color danced in the corner of his eye. A smirk played at his lips as he lifted his eyes to meet those of Hogwarts' most reliable trouble-maker: Nymphadora Tonks.

All thoughts of focusing on the lesson disappeared as the possibilities raced through his mind. Had she discovered a new hidden passageway behind the enchanted tapestries? Perhaps befriended a house-elf with access to Hogwart's Firewhisky cabinet? Whatever it was, he was sure to find out after class—she always signaled when a good time was to be had by switching her usual bubblegum pink hair into a vibrant royal purple.

Professor Binns looked up from his pulpit, a sure signal that he was about to bring the excruciating lesson to a close. "And at last, the notorious Goblin of Grimstone was found playing in the street by the Minister of Magic, thus marring his reputation—a big disgrace to Goblinkind forever."

Charlie shoved his blank note-taking parchment back into his bag before the minute hand even hit the top of the hour. There was no point in trying to pay attention any more today—he was high on the anticipation of whatever mischief Tonks had planned for them.

As soon as class was dismissed, Charlie was traveling at the speed of light to get to their meeting place: a tiny alcove hidden behind a violet tapestry—the very same violet as Tonks' hair during _History of Magic_.

She was already waiting for him when he slipped behind the curtain, her wand casting a halo of light around her eager eyes.

"You'll never believe what I found! Well, I think I did, anyway." The erratic way she bounced on her heels reminded Charlie of the feeling he got after ingesting too much cheering candy in an attempt to soldier through the colorless haze of last year's end-of-term exams.

"Dumbledore's secret stash of novelty socks? Peeves' weakness? Spit it out, whatever it is!"

"Smoke trails. Over the Forbidden Forest."

"What, are some 7th years having illegal bonfire parties in the woods? That's hardly news."

Tonks' eyes flashed orange in annoyance. "No, not—these trails are constant, and hovering over the territory near the south cliffs. I'd wager my last galleons that there's a dragon out there."

A dragon. Charlie's heart stuttered in his chest. Dragons in migration typically made stops to feed and rest in forested areas. If there was a dragon out there now, it wouldn't stay long.

"You could be right. I can't believe—a real dragon—" He'd always dreamt of it, but he'd never seen a dragon in real life before; only in animated diagrams and fantastical moving paintings. A vision of beating wings and fiery breath danced in his mind, lighting up his imagination in pure color.

He was suddenly very anxious to get back to his dorm and crack open the copy of _The Illustrated Guide to Dragon Identification_ he kept stashed in his trunk.

The sound of Tonks' enthusiastic voice snapped him back to the present. "Let's find out tomorrow after dinner. Meet me at the pumpkin patch?"

Charlie nodded. Just the promise of adventure would be enough to get him through today and tomorrow, maybe even bring his world back into focus. Who knows, maybe if there really was a dragon, the memory of it would color his daydreams all the way up until the end of the school year. He could only hope.

* * *

"Ouch! Watch where you're shoving your elbow, Tonks!"

"If you could hold your wandlight in front of us instead of waving it wildly into the night, I'd actually be able to see instead of stumbling around blindly!" She spiked her hair in irritation and glanced up into the clear, cobalt sky.

The fading trail of smoke had been illuminated with some charm known only to Tonks. From the look of it, they were getting closer to the source; the trail grew thicker every minute they spent trekking through the moonlit woods.

The crunch and soft thud of knees hitting the ground as Tonks tripped over a tree root for the fifteenth time since sunset nearly obscured a much more compelling noise in the distance—_boom, boom, snap!_

"What was that?"

"Just these blasted tree roots." She shook her finger at a towering spruce to her left. "Don't even try to play dumb. I know for a fact that some of you are sentient!"

"No, I meant—" Charlie strained his ears. "Nevermind. It's gone now."

After thirty more minutes of being poked by overly-friendly branches, he heard it again, louder now: _boom-boom-snap!_

"There it is! It's closer this time." A wild thrill shot through Charlie's lungs. Despite the dim light, he felt nothing of the colorless drudgery he'd been suffocating under for years. Here in the woods, under the influence of adventure, even the grays had shadows of mauve.

Tonks squinted at the trail of smoke. "Less than a mile, I'd say."

Charlie scoffed. "Like you can even know that. Got some experience with dragon tracking you've been keeping undercover?"

_Boom-boom-slap!_

Tonks jumped back, nearly tripping again. "It's definitely closer!"

The sound of wings, scratching against each other and the wind, filled the air moments before Charlie's world exploded with color.

Two enormous black feet boomed against the ground—the left first, then the right, followed by the loud _slap _of a serpentine tail hitting the underbrush of the forest floor.

Charlie's eyes were suddenly full of black scales. He traced them up; ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet—all the way to a pair of intelligent purple eyes—the eyes of a Hebridean Black, if his favorite book was to be believed.

A dragon. _A dragon!_ A monstrous, glorious, terrible dragon stood not a dozen feet away.

His ears roared with excitement as he dodged to the right, narrowly missing the dragon's lazy swipe. _Had he ever lived before this moment? _

On pure instinct, he scrambled to the top of a boulder, bringing him level with the dragon's knees. He couldn't see where Tonks had gone. Most likely she had faded into browns and greens to camouflage herself among the forest shadows.

From his perch on the rock, Charlie shot a fireproof shield charm in a sphere around himself. Despite the barrier, he could feel the dragon's steamy breath boiling the air to what must have been 200 degrees.

"Charlie!" Tonks hissed behind him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm having a good time!"

"That dragon's going shoot you across the sky if you don't get out of its line of fire!"

Charlie pouted. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to step away. He'd never felt so alive—not even inadvisable amounts of adrenaline potions could compare.

The dragon's head snaked lower in the sky, bending and twisting at the neck until her violet eyes shone the moon onto Charlie's awe-struck face. She puffed a cloud of silver smoke into the air between them as she stared through his soul.

The dragon blinked; once, twice, and a third—before she twisted her neck in the opposite direction, spread her purple-tinged wings, and leapt into the sky and out of sight against the star-spangled night.

He froze in place until he heard it—much quieter than before—_boom, boom, slap. _In his imagination, the dragon had landed on the edge of a cliffside, poised to dive toward a cobalt river in breathtakingly majestic glory.

His heart floated around in ecstasy as he and Tonks scrambled back through the woods to the castle. He had always known he was going to make a big noise in the world someday, but before tonight, he had never known exactly how.

It was all so obvious now. The greys of yesterday had melted away to reveal a majestic spectrum, and every vibrant color reflected dragons.


End file.
